


Old Time Christmases

by That_One_Parent_Like_Friend



Series: To Build a Home [3]
Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Blue Team Bonding, Christmas Angst, Family Bonding, Feels, Home Movies, I cried guys, Past Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-16
Updated: 2018-12-16
Packaged: 2019-09-20 01:34:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17013048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/That_One_Parent_Like_Friend/pseuds/That_One_Parent_Like_Friend
Summary: Church is looking through some old files on his home office computer so F.I.L.S.S. doesn't accidentally delete anything he deems important and comes across some old Christmas home movies he's recorded over the years.





	Old Time Christmases

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not kidding with that whole I cried tag. Like, it took everything in me not to bawl my eyes out while writing this and listening to Christmas music. I don't recommend playing All I Want for Christmas is You while reading this like I did. Y'know, like a moron. Enjoy the Christmas pain.

    Sighing as he grabbed his cup of eggnog from beside him on the desk, Leonard Church went rooting through old files on his computer. F.I.L.S.S. recommended he went through them by hand, as she hadn't learned what was important in his save files yet and what could easily be wiped from the hard drive. Eventually, he found a file labeled "Home Movies", not entirely sure which ones were stored away. Leonard always told himself he was going to properly name each video and put them into individual files according to their year, but he just never got around to it - usually because of some emergency from work or the kids.

    Opening one of the first few, it felt like he'd been punched in the gut when all that showed up for the first minute was a black screen, but he could hear voices. He nearly cried hearing his wife's voice again as she tried getting his attention so he could take the lens cap off to properly record. Once it was off, the first thing he saw was Allison holding their three-year-old Michael while in the background he could see Carolina trying to be sneaky around the Christmas tree and figure out which presents were hers. Christmas had always been so hectic for the Church family, especially when it overlapped with Hanukah, so most years they saved a good portion of the gifts for Christmas day. Being a mixed religion family was interesting sometimes.

    _"Leonard, just put the camera down in a good spot and stop your daughter, please? She's going to knock over the tree,"_ Allison had warned him, watching as the camera moved around for a minute before he was soon visible, picking up the small red head. God, he missed being able to actually pick up his kids.

    "Hey, Dad, Carol called. Said she's gonna have diner with the Newports before they bring her back," Lavernius came in and told him. He just nodded, watching as, in the video, he hung said girl upside down while she squealed in protest. The young teen came over to see what he was watching, taking in the fact his siblings looked so young. "This was before you guys adopted me," he stated plainly, seeing how happy his family looked before he'd come into their lives.

    "Yeah. Go grab Caboose and we can watch together. He was a bit young to be able to remember this, so he might enjoy it," he told his son, pausing the video so he could pull some extra chairs around so they could have somewhere to sit when he brought in Michael.

    A few minutes later, both boys were settled with either a cup of cider or cocoa, and the video was unpaused. As soon as it started up, they could hear the start of Alpha barking, clearly excited about whatever his humans were doing. He really missed that old dog. Of course, not like Alpha was old in this video, still rather young and in his prime from the way he bounced around trying to get them to play with him. Naturally, Freckles perked up at hearing the barking, trying to find its source as the home movie continued playing.

    They ended up watching a few more videos, eventually making it to a more recent Christmas - the last one they'd all spent together just two years ago. Unlike the first one, Leonard had remembered to remove the cap, so when he asked everyone to smile for the camera, they could actually see it, his wife and children waving to him as he recorded them. The three were so caught up in the video that they hadn't noticed Carolina come in and stand behind them, making a disgusted sound when she saw herself.

    "Remind me never to get my hair cut that short again?" she asked, taking off her coat and gloves.

    "Have fun hanging out with York?" Leonard asked his only daughter, looking over his shoulder at her.

    "Yeah. How many have you guys watched?"

    "Just a few. Caboose enjoyed seeing the ones he was too young for."

    "Carol, I used to be so tiny that Mom could pick me up in one hand!" he told her excitedly. Sure, he'd seen pictures of himself as a baby, but seeing it in full movement was another thing entirely.

    This time, instead of a dog happily bouncing around, Alpha was in his dog bed by the fire place, and once in a while one of the cats would get in front of the camera while both Church parents handed out presents to their children. _"Here, Michael, open this one first,"_ Allison told him, handing over a rather large box. Everyone knew what was in it, but they still smiled anyway when his eyes lit up at seeing the train set. It was the very one that was still set up on a table in his bedroom at that very moment.

    "I miss Mom," the youngest of the Church siblings muttered, curling up in his chair.

    "I know, buddy. We all miss her. It's not the same around here without her, but as long as we remember her and all the good times we had together, she's not gone. Not really."

    All three of them nodded, hugging the man close as the video soon came to an end. This was going to be their first real Christmas without Allison, and Leonard hoped it went well tomorrow when they started putting the decorations up around the house. Maybe he had some recordings of his wife singing that he could play, so it'd be like she was still with them in some way. It was a tradition that they had to wait until the kids were on winter break so everyone was home to help with the decorating. In the morning, he'd have cinnamon pancakes ready for them with an almost endless supply of cocoa to drink through the day as they worked. They'd sing Christmas carols the whole time, Lavernius would tease his sister about York at some point, leading the boy to be tangled in a garland string by the end of it. The cats would even try playing with the ornaments.

    Once all three kids were in bed, Leonard found all of the audio files he wanted and had F.I.L.S.S. transfer them to a disc over night so it'd be ready for decorating in the morning. "Good night, F.I.L.S.S."

    _"Sleep well, Director."_ And with that, he went to his room and crawled into bed alone, hoping he wouldn't be up all night again.

    "Night, Tex. . . " he whispered into the darkness of his room. "And Merry Christmas."


End file.
